Father: Herman J. Felber (1892-1964)

Mother: Estelle M. Felber (nee Hughes) (1894-1993)

(His father's name is on the WWII draft card. His mother's information

found on Ancestry.com in the 1940 Census. Neither appear to be on FaG.)

Lt. Douglas H. Felber

34th Troop Squadron

315th Troop Carrier Group

USSTAF

I.D. O2058140

KIA: 17 Sep 1944

Downed by enemy artillery, C-47 tail number 43-15308—Bette

 C-47A nicknamed Bette, tail number 43-15308 (34th Troop Carrier Squadron,

315th Troop Carrier Group), awaited her five-man crew that consisted of Captain Richard E. Bohannan (pilot), 2nd Lt. Douglas H. Felber (copilot),

1st Lt. Bernard P. Martinson (navigator), Staff Sgt. Arnold B. Epperson (radio operator), and Sergeant Thomas N. Carter (crew chief).

One of the six parapacks beneath Bette had been hit by enemy artillery and was on fire. The container held Composition C, a highly dangerous and combustible material used to make explosives. The Comp C was burning, and flames were spreading to the other parapacks under the fuselage, which also caught fire. The fire was so intense that it melted holes in the aluminum floor of the aircraft. Bette's left engine was also ablaze.

C-47 Bette, engulfed in flames from enemy , was in a dive and with full throttle plowed into a field that had been flooded by the Germans near the Postbaan of the Stadschendijk in the Heiningse Polder, near the farm of A. van Sprang (51° 39'N; 4° 27'E). It was approximately 12:30 pm. The paratroopers believed that the pilots, Bohannan and Felber, had held the plane as long as they could so that the paratroopers were able to get clear. All 15 paratroopers were able to abandon the aircraft and bailed out. Sgt. Carter became a POW. He jumped with the paratroopers and survived. They owed their lives to the men up in the cockpit who had sacrificed theirs.

(-- condensed from "Shot Down Behind Enemy Lines: An 82nd Airborne Stick's Survival at Market-Garden". Spring 2012 Vol 3 No 3 WWII Quarterly by Jan Bos)

*Lt. Felber's headstone says 36th Troop Group. I believe that is a mistake, he was in the 34th.

-- Bio provided 25 Feb 2024 by FaG Contributor prmccoy, #51324376; also provided middle name, birth and death locations, and link to image of draft registration card.

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